Friday, March 22, 2013

In the first inning of a night game against the Phillies, John Lackey‘s fastball registered 92 mph on the stadium radar gun. Would it be possible, he was asked after allowing one run in five innings, for him to enjoy success while working with that velocity?

“There’ll be more,” the right-hander grinned. “There’ll be more. You put the third deck on the stadium, things happen.”

Though Lackey’s fastball sat between 87-90 mph for most of his final innings of work, Thursday night represented yet another promising sign in a spring that has offered a host of positive indicators for the 34-year-old as he works back from the Tommy John surgery that he underwent after the 2011 campaign. In his five innings of work, he allowed just the one run on four hits while striking out one (opposing pitcher Cole Hamels) and without issuing a free pass. Of the 15 outs he recorded, 13 were by groundball.

“We talked about this early in camp, because he can throw on such a downhill plane, on days where he might not have his best velocity, he still has the ability to put the ball on the ground,” said manager John Farrell. “We saw it tonight on a number of occasions. I don’t think we could have anticipated much more coming into camp from him.”

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I'm starting to get optimistic on Lackey for this season. It's the first time he's had a healthy elbow since coming to Boston, he's lost a ton of weight, and so far this spring his stuff looks much sharper. He could be the best fourth starter in the AL.